Holidaymakers urged ‘enjoy your time’ amid plans to get them home

Thousands of jobs have been lost as a result of Thomas Cook failing to secure a £200 million lifeline.

The collapse of the 178-year old company has put 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide, including 9,000 in the UK.

A cross-government task force is to be established to assist affected workers.

There were several Thomas Cook stores across Tayside and Fife – including in Dundee, Perth, Kirkcaldy, Arbroath, Montrose, Glenrothes and Dunfermline.

Angus MP Kirstene Hair has urged constituents to contact her office if they are affected, as well as taking advice from the Civil Aviation Authority (see below).

Normally, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) would only be responsible for bringing passengers home if they are covered by the Air Travel Organiser Licence scheme.

However, the government has instructed the authority to make sure all passengers are brought home.

Ms Hair said: “The advice for people already on holiday is that they should try to enjoy their time away as best they can.

“In most circumstances, they will not be flown ahead of their scheduled return date.

“I would urge staff in the Montrose and Arbroath Thomas Cook offices, and anyone with family overseas who have concerns, to get in touch with me if they have any problem accessing the information they need.”

Thomas Cook chief executive Peter Fankhauser said his company had “worked exhaustively” to salvage a rescue package and apologised to those impacted.

He said: “Although a deal had been largely agreed, an additional facility requested in the last few days presented a challenge that ultimately proved insurmountable.”

Thomas Cook was one of the world’s oldest and largest travel companies.

It was formed by a cabinet maker of the same name nearly two centuries ago.

The former Baptist preacher was a religious man who believed that most social problems were related to alcohol.

Mr Cook organised his first trip in 1841, taking around 500 supporters of the temperance movement on a day trip by train from Leicester to Loughborough, 12 miles away.

The day was a success, so he went on to arrange excursions between Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham for temperance societies and Sunday schools.

The Cook family sold the business to Orient Express in 1928, before it became state-owned as part of the nationalised British Railways in 1948.

The firm returned to private ownership in 1972 and has changed hands several times since then.